In a tense New York City crime drama, Farley Granger stars as Joe Norson, a man who has just lost his gas-station job and now works as a part-time mailman, determined to provide for his pregnant wife, Ellen Norson, portrayed by Cathy O'Donnell, and her parents. To improve their lot, Joe rationalizes stealing what he thinks is a small sum from a lawyer’s office on his route, hoping this impulsive act will secure his family’s future.
But the stash isn’t what he believes it to be. Joe discovers the money actually belongs to Edmon Ryan as Victor Backett, a corrupt attorney who, along with the shrewd Lucille “Lucky” Colner and the crafty Georgie Garsell, has already used the cash to blackmail a wealthy broker, James Craig, Emil Lorrison. Backett presents himself as a master manipulator, and the trio—Backett, Lucille, and Georgie—keep the money out of reach while plotting a way to force Lorrison’s cooperation.
Panic sets in for Joe as he tries to keep the scheme hidden. He disguises the money as a simple package and leaves it with Nick Drumman, the bartender, hoping to secure a safe window to return it later. The case takes a darker turn when Lucille’s body is found in the East River, the apparent victim of strangulation. The investigation falls to Captain Walter Anderson, played by Paul Kelly, who begins pulling on the threads tying Backett, Lorrison, and their circle to the crime.
As the atmosphere thickens, the police interview Backett and Lorrison after their names surface in Lucille’s “love diary,” and the tension between money, power, and reputation grows more dangerous. After the birth of Joe and Ellen’s son, Joe makes a move to return the money, but Backett senses a trap and refuses to cooperate. Instead, Backett sends Georgie Garsell and the taxi driver to seize the cash back. They discover that Nick Drumman has swapped the money for a nightgown and has fled, taking the cash with him.
The pursuit tightens. Garsell locates Drumman first and strangles him to recover the bounty, leaving Joe scrambling to clear his name. Joe confesses the original theft to Ellen, who urges him to surrender to the police, but suspicion haunts him as the murder of Drumman makes him a prime suspect. As Captain Anderson closes in on Garsell for Lucille’s murder and on Joe for Drumman’s, Joe searches for the money’s source to prove his innocence.
In a tense turn, Joe tracks down Garsell’s girlfriend, the singer Harriette Sinton, played by Jean Hagen, but she betrays him to Garsell. A deadly plan unfolds as Garsell decides to murder Joe, and he zaps Harriet to silence her as a witness. A frantic pursuit erupts through the pre-dawn streets of New York, with Anderson and his team chasing the killers. The taxi driver, eager to surrender, is shot by Garsell, who forces Joe to drive. Joe crashes the car deliberately, and Garsell is killed in a hail of gunfire as the police close in.
Ellen finally arrives at the scene, finding Joe badly injured but alive. She embraces him as the police load him into an ambulance, her presence offering a fragile thread of hope amid the chaos. The case leaves viewers with a stark portrait of desperation, loyalty, and the high cost of one impulsive choice in a city that never truly sleeps.
